ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 14 -- United States Patent no. 12,678,254, issued on July 14, was assigned to Cilag GmbH International (Zug, Switzerland).
"Drape management system" was invented by Richard Mark Lum (San Jose, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Sterile drapes for surgical robotic systems include an excess of drape material to allow movement of components of the system. This excess of drape material is managed by one or more flat coiled springs attached to a surface of a sheath shape that forms the drape, near the closed end of the sheath shape. The coiled springs have a curvature on a flat side that is oriented toward the hollow interior of the sheath shape, and may be attached to the...